Monthly Archives: February 2009

The basic idea of the Founding Fathers was to get government as close to the people as possible. In other words, a small federal government, with strong local and state governments. Thomas Jefferson said, â€œWhen all government shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it willâ€¦ become as oppressive as the government from which we separated [ourselves, the government of England].â€

Do you think that a bloated federal bureaucracy might be at the root of the problems we are facing today in our American Republic? Our nationâ€™s Founders never dreamed that the federal government would become the octopus that it is, with its tentacles reaching into every facet of our lives. Is there a solution? Yes, and itâ€™s already happening now!

On 02-26-09, a number of Virginia State Representative intrduced House Resolution 61, which reads:

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Congress of the United States be urged to honor state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The Commonwealth of Virginia hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. The Commonwealth by this resolution serves notice to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers. Further, the Commonwealth urges that all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding shall be prohibited or repealed.

For those history buffs out there, Virginia (along with Kentucky) was at the forefront in asserting the principles of State Sovereignty and limited government in the early days of the Republic. The Virginia Resolution of 1798, authored by James Madison in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson, took what some consider to be the strongest position on this issue in our history.

To the victor go the spoils, and the winners write the history books, this latter coming unavoidably with the former. Still, facts persist, despite their inconvenience.

One fact that seems particularly inconvenient to the editors of New Hampshire’s Nashua Telegraph is that the government of the United States is a limited government. Their specific complaint is against “HCR6,” a resolution introduced in the New Hampshire House of Representatives re-affirming the principles laid out in the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution, namely, that the federal government exists to exercise delegated powers only, and that all other powers are retained by the states and the people.

To increase the one, you have to limit the other. There’s no two ways about it.

If confronted with that choice, which one will you increase??

Naturally, there is only one sane answer. Yet, good, well-meaning, but horribly deceived and misled Americans are constantly choosing government over freedom and prosperity by their daily actions, behaviors – and voting patterns.

On Tuesday, 022409, Michigan State Representative Paul Opsommer was talking State Sovereignty and the 10th Amendment when he appeared as a guest on WTCM Radio in Traverse City, Michigan.Â Click the link below to hear the interview, approximately 15 minutes.

On 02/24/09, Kentucky State Representative, John Will Stacy (D) intrduced House Concurrent Resolution 168, which reads:

“A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION claiming sovereignty over powers not granted to the federal government by the United States Constitution; serving notice to the federal government to cease mandates beyond its authority; and stating Kentucky’s position that federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of loss of federal funding should be prohibited or repealed.”

For those history buffs out there, Kentucky was at the forefront in asserting the principles of State Sovereignty in the early days of the Republic.Â Â The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 took what some consider to be the strongest position on this issue in our history.

“Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.”

We might think those wordsâ€”or words to the same effectâ€”are in the U.S. Constitution. But they are not. They are from Article II of the Articles of Confederation, Americaâ€™s first constitution. They could have been placed in the U.S. Constitution but were deliberately left out in 1787.

“A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION urging the honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, and the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives of each State’s legislature of the United States of America to cease and desist, effective immediately, any and all mandates that are beyond the scope of their constitutionally delegated power.”

The purpose of the 10th Amendment is to define the establishment and division of power between the Federal government and state governments. This amendment also protects these powers from both entities. This amendment was used to define the federal taxing power, federal police power, and federal regulations.

At one time, it was read very simply, if it is not in the constitution, the federal government could not pass it to the states. Through the years, the power of the federal government has expanded through the Supreme Court.

Many of you have asked for a central location to stay up to date with state sovereignty bills. While the idea of centralizing information and/or control over a movement of this kind seems to fly in the face of the principles of decentralization that the Tenth Amendment Center stands for, we have gladly succumbed to popular demand with this informational post.

State sovereignty is a big deal to state legislators; hopefully, it is to you as well. It is what keeps the federal government from over stepping its constitutional bounds.

Today many state legislators, including some in Tennessee, have decided it is time to affirm state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and demand the federal government halt its practice of assuming powers and of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution.

The history of the formation of our federal government is long and complex but what the framers sought was a government that protected manâ€™s natural rights; declared by the Declaration of Independence to be the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; better interpreted to mean that all men, by nature are equally free and independent with the right to work, acquire property and pursue their own individual happiness.